Though her partner had moved toward the tomb, Leoria remained stationary. Her gaze was glued to the beacon, its flashing green light strangely mesmerizing, as she reflected on the hologram's words. He had said that he was breaking radio silence. Forgetting the emergency he spoke of, the girl noticed the importance of that phrase alone. Why had the team kept radio silence at all? Her Master had explained that they had been unable to reach the expedition, but had that been prior to the radio silence? Or after? And who had requested such secrecy to begin with? Arianth had alluded to immense security, yet Leoria wondered if such sneakiness had ultimately worked against them.

"Wonder who requested the radio silence," she finally muttered, but Yerbol had already left her side. With the whisper of sand underfoot, the Knight jogged toward him. Each step, she realized suddenly, was increasingly difficult. She had hardly noticed the heat before, but now it demanded her full attention. Each breath she drew was hot, steamy, and seemed to stick in her throat before reaching her lungs. She coughed, but only once, as she did not wish to demonstrate how much the weather affected her. Leoria had always preferred the cold.

Her lips parted, and she moved to continue speaking on the matter of radio silence. But all that escaped at the sight of the bodies was a soft, strangled groan. It was not as if the woman was a stranger to death. On the contrary, she had witnessed her fair share of dead and dying. But that did not make the reality that lay before her any easier to swallow. Though she knew that she should help Yerbol examine the body, the lifeless eyes kept her at bay. [i]She's not much older than I am.[/i] Clenching her jaw tightly, she opted to simply cross her arms protectively across her chest.

"What kind of marks do you think those are then? Because I agree with you, I think whatever it was got to all of these people." She paused, mentally recalling the information that he had shared with her over the past few days. "Tuk'ata, maybe? Rumor is there are still some around here. And they have massive claws and teeth." But as soon as the words left her mouth, she shook her head. "No, never mind. If that were the case, I think that there would be more blood." She frowned, lines of worry deepening across her brow. "There really isn't much blood actually. Hardly any. Just mostly around the face." Now, she knelt. Though her fingertips never kiss the deceased's skin, she traced the marks for her companion. "Very odd."